Knowledge is Power

Still confused on how to cite sources within the text correctly?

Most students are now given a task to write an in-text citation especially when using MLA styles. Not all will love this part since it can be very confusing in their part to do it. But the solution for that problem is to know how it works and how are you going to apply it into writing.

In-text citation aids your readers to the corresponding information that is found at the end of the paper. This is the clever thing to do in order for them to determine the real source of information that the writer used. Since every writer needs a real source of information to support their writings, they may base their ideas to the real source of information rather plagiarizing it.

Readers will now conclude to whom the source of information is coming from but as of the writer’s part, they might have a little problem on how to do it the right way. That can be a not so easy task for them but the truth is, anyone can easily deal on how to write an in-text citation for their school’s requirements or for any professional work assignments.

Tasked to craft your piece in an MLA writing style, you’ll need to use parenthetical citations, a scary-sounding term for what’s largely a simple way of referencing source documents. What does it really mean?

Put simply, these in-text citations are placeholders intended to tell the reader where a particular piece of information is sourced from. To make the reference clear, the citation is placed at the end of the statement. Directly from an in-text citation, a reader should be able to flip into the list of your various reference sources and know exactly where the information is from. For brevity’s sake, the style uses a standard format for making the citation (surname and page number, like Johnson 85), which means the information is lifted from a work authored by Johnson (which you will list on the paper’s Works Cited section) from page 85.

So when do you use an in-text citation? Pretty much any time that a piece of information appears in your text that you can credit to one of your sources. This includes paraphrased items, direct quotes, anecdotes, statistics and report findings.

Why not just mention the source as part of the sentence? Because it’s distracting. Complex papers, especially those for class, are usually filled with research from a large number of source materials. Can you really imagine mentioning the title, author and page number of a particular source of information every sentence?

Don’t get confuse on where, when and how to write and in-text citation. Just focus on the right and then things will go easily and smoothly as what you want it to be.

Do note that some grammar software may not be familiar with MLA Style (although most of them should be), so they may flag this form of citation as an error. Just realize that it’s not (or add it to the rules, if it’s editable) and you’ll be fine.

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Not all people understand the essence of being a writer. Sometimes, most of them underestimate a writer’s capabilities. For them, a writer is someone who writes something like this and like that. Whenever a person is assigned to write something, they take it for granted and the result is that, their contents are of low quality.

But, being a writer takes a lot of challenges and hard work. Besides, not all people know how to be a good writer. A writer doesn’t focus mainly on writing. They also act as a reader for their own write-ups and for the work of other writers as well. They will never know how their contents would look and if it was written properly if they won’t read it first. Most effective and well-written compositions are being created by reading it while these compositions are not yet done.

Now, if you wanted to write effectively, you should also act as a good reader for your work. Then how are you going to do that? First, you need to follow some guides that will aid you on how to shift yourself from being a writer-centered to being a reader-centered person and this usually happen during the revision process.

When you are through on writing your first draft, you need to undergo with the revision process also known as the editing process. Since you are going to edit your work and revise old ideas to a newer one, of course you’ll have to read your work first.

After all the well-meaning advice to picture the reader in your mind as you’re writing, many of us still end up putting down words down geared towards pleasing us instead of our audience. If you’ve partaken in the same habit, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Some people just work more efficiently that way.

However, once you’re past the first writing and into revising your piece, you best put the “reader” hat on. If you don’t, there’s a good chance your work reflects the kind of text that will please you, but not necessarily those who are going to read it.

When it’s time to do revisions, it’s important to switch from a writer-centered focus to a reader-centered one. You’ll have to detach yourself from your writing and look at it with fresh eyes. Different writers have their own styles for accomplishing this. You should try to find your own. A few ideas include:

•Performing the revision one day after writing the first draft.

•Pretending they are reviewing someone else’s work during the revision process.

•Reading backwards, starting from the last paragraph.

•Reading pieces out loud (even recording and listening to them, for some).

•Review your work only after putting it through an English writing software (the changes could be major enough that you end up feeling like you’re reading a different piece).

Reader-centered writing is all about recognizing how the reader will respond to your piece. Done right, you can anticipate any potential pitfalls in your material, particularly those affecting the audience’s overall experience.

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How much attention do you pay to the first line of your work? Do you obsess over trying to get it right? Or do you just dive in with the first sentence that comes into mind?

Most writers especially those who are still beginners focus their attention more on the first line they wrote in their text. It seems like you wanted to write perfectly without any errors at first so that you can continue your work the right way.

The first line must attract your reader’s attention about the topic you are writing. If you had written a nice and effective first line, then you can drag your reader’s attention to read your content further on. The first line must be catchy and at the same time, it tells something about your topic. If they find it boring and badly written, it will be hard in your part to get more traffic in your written piece.

So, how are you going to write your first line effectively? What are the rules that we need to follow in order to write one?

The shorter the writing, the greater the value that your first line carries. This concept is widely known by most expert writers and a lot of people now are using this effective style in writing. While a 300-page novel might survive a rough start, a one-page essay will probably suffer for it. If you have resolved that a powerful first line is what you’re aiming for, trying to make sure these four qualities find their way into your work should prove a worthy use of your time. Here is what you need to keep in mind:

1. Properly written sentence. Naturally, a good first line should be structurally correct, not to mention elegantly constructed. Write correctly which means you need to check you grammars and spellings to increase your sentience’s quality. A quality writing software should help.

2. Hints at the overall content of the piece. What is the rest of the text about? If your first line can offer a clue, then it should prove an effective instrument for making the document easier to consume for your reader.

3. Sets the tone of the material. How do you want your reader to act, feel and think while they are going through your work? A good first line will steer the reader in the direction that you want. Not doing so can lead them down the wrong path, potentially pushing them to lose interest.

4. Hooks the reader. You want to draw the reader in with your first line and pull them into the story, wanting to know more.

Of all the four characteristics above, the last and the first ones are easily the most vital to employ. If the first line can get the reader to dive further into the piece, all while being elegant and proper, then it has done its job marvelously. The succeeding statements can then proceed to assist with the other two qualities.

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